


trouble making everything alright

by Fiction_is_the_Truth



Series: the gods are different (resurrection is involved) [2]
Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Hello lads, It’s me, Not Canon Compliant - The Trials of Apollo, Sorry this took forever, Temporary Character Death, but all is okay in the end :), minor edits, no beta just write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:15:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24434188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiction_is_the_Truth/pseuds/Fiction_is_the_Truth
Summary: Jason’s dead. That’s not really the problem. The problem is...“Welcome to Hotel Valhalla, home of the honored dead, half of them at least, the other half go to Folkvanger. If you’re here, you died doing something heroic that saved lives. You won’t age and you won’t permanently die until Ragnarok, unless you manage to get yourself killed on a quest out in the nine realms, after which you won’t resurrect unless you somehow manage to return to the hotel before dying. More will be explained at dinner.”Jason is reeling but at least he now has an explanation of some of the craziness of his current situation. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be here.”...He’s in the wrong afterlife.
Relationships: Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: the gods are different (resurrection is involved) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1512896
Comments: 4
Kudos: 68





	trouble making everything alright

**Author's Note:**

> I way underestimated both how long this would be, and how long it would take me to write it, sorry guys. 
> 
> On the plus side, it’s really long.
> 
> As will become more evident in the eventual part three, I’m ignoring the grand majority of the Trials of Apollo, and cherry-picking the parts I do want, because they all deserve to be happy.
> 
> Six months after I thought I’d be done, here we are. Parts of it may be rocky, as I wrote the beginning months ago, and I’m still working on a consistent writing style.
> 
> Thanks for your patience.
> 
> Have fun.
> 
> (Title from Valerie Broussard’s Trouble)

Jason knows two things. One, he was supposed to be dead. And two, there should be a hole in his chest where Maeda had stuck a sword.

The fact that there wasn’t was a bit concerning.

Well, three things, he admits to himself, as he looks around the strange garden, he was  _ definitely not _ in the underworld. 

The strange garden was by far  _ not _ one of the weirdest places he'd ever been during his life as a demigod, but it was up there. It was surrounded by tall, smooth walls that stood about 15-20 feet high, with possibly the most picturesque garden in existence. Tall (maybe birch?) trees stood with stone benches interspersed along a brick path that wound through the small garden. The path split off into two, one leading up to, and the other winding behind a tall, fancy looking, brownstone hotel. 

Now, the walls, the trees, and the hotel were not the strange things. The strange things were that the walls seemed to be made of marble, the trunk and leaves of the trees, and oh, leaves are definitely not supposed to be literal gold, had a golden cast, there was definitely some golden apple trees in there, and that on the doors of the entrance to the building, whatever it was, were two large door knockers of snarling wolves. 

Wolves and golden apples. Not necessarily the best combination, experience and mythologically speaking, when both always ended in  _ someone’s  _ death. 

Wincing slightly, Jason pushes himself up off the grass, rubbing at his definitely-not-impaled chest.

His chest suddenly not having a hole just feels  _ wrong, _ not that he knows how being-dead-in-the-Underworld works. The blow that Maeda had struck was not something that he could have survived, not without immediate medical attention, which was something their trio did not have. Of the three of them, Grover would have had the most luck with healing him, but that was highly unlikely as he had been trying to wake up Piper who had been unconscious. 

The last thing he remembered was a long drawn out scream, made  _ of literal terror _ ; and then, a thud and another, higher pitched scream -  _ Piper _ —

Darkness. 

Really, once the shock had worn off, he mostly had just felt numb, with an endless loop track of  _ “oh gods, no, no nononononnno, this is bad, this is so, so bad” _ running through his brain.

Jason stares at the doors. The wolves are in an odd style, nothing like he’s seen before, except maybe in a museum, and their eyes are set with gigantic red gems. He’s not sure whether or not it’s a good idea to go up and knock, because on the one hand, it’s a strange house and he has no idea what might be inside, but on the other, it really is the only place to go, as all the paths seem to lead straight into solid wall. 

Of course, there’s also the matter of him being very definitely dead and decidedly  _ not _ in the Underworld, because the sky there is not the perfect cloudless blue that he is looking up at.

_ “The Underworld,”  _ he remembers Nico telling him once,  _ “is underground like the name implies, in a cavern that spans under the entire surface of the world, a cavern whose roof reaches so high that the Empire State Building could fit with room to spare. Of course, it’s also technically a really weird pocket dimension, but those are just schematics.” _

Thank you, Nico, for that very informative spiel on the Underworld. Which just so happens to be utterly useless for him, as Nico also mentioned that “the ‘sky’ is an ominous haze; you’d know it when you see it.”

That really only leaves him with the option that he is  _ not _ in an afterlife of the Greek or Roman gods, since they are -at their cores- one and the same, which is not something he’s heard of happening before. 

He’s just about made up his mind to knock on the doors or climb a tree to try and escape, when the decision is made for him by a man dressed in a green bellhop uniform walking out of the doors. 

The man scowls when he comes to a stop about five feet in front of Jason. “You’re the new one? I had to come out and see if you were actually here, Helgi thought you’d been accidentally rerouted to Folkvanger.”

“I’m the new one, I think? Who’s Helgi?” Internally, Jason is panicking, namely about  _ ‘What’s Folkvanger,’ ‘Who is this Helgi person,’ ‘Who are  _ you _ ,’  _ oh, and mainly,  _ ‘WHERE AM I???’ _

The man stares intensely at him and he leans slightly away, finally noticing that the man has a name tag on the lapel of his jacket. “Hm, yes, I think you are. As for Helgi, he’s my manager. Now follow me, you need to check in before dinner and we’re cutting it a bit close.”

He turns and starts walking to the doors

Jason stares after him and rubs his head. Yes he -died- but he vaguely remembers Maeda sending chunks of concrete flying at his head and one of them hitting at some point prior to his being impaled. This whole thing could be some real weird (for his standards at least) post death hallucination and he’s imagining all this and any moment now he’s going to open his eyes to the judges of the Underworld.

The man pulls open one of the doors and although his face barely twitches, he radiates impatience. 

Then again, it probably isn’t, because  _ why would he hallucinate about a hotel and a guy named Hunding who’s worked there since 749 CE? _

Jason sighs and follows him through the doors.

* * *

Once he’s inside, Hunding shows him to a registration desk. Sure enough, the man behind it’s name is Helgi. 

“Great!” Helgi beams at him as he clicks away on the keyboard. Jason can only stare at him, slightly concerned for his state of mind. “You’ve nearly missed the cut off time, and then you would have had to wait until tomorrow, but you’re here now and that’s all that matters!”

“Okay…” He glances around the reception area. A few people are playing cards in the corner, another group playing monopoly by the large fireplace, and a small cluster of people playing what looks like Dungeons and Dragons under the large wolf head overlooking the lounge. As he watches, the person at the head of the table and surrounded by the largest pile of loose paper rolls something before saying something inaudible to one of the players over the roar of the fire. 

The player shrieks and pulls out a spear before yelling,  _ “I’ll eldritch blast you!”  _ and stabs the person at the head of the table in the chest, instantly killing them. A wolf comes out of nowhere and drags them through a side door by the fireplace. 

Judging by the way that the entire party jumps to their feet and starts shouting, someone yelling,  _ “Kelsie! You can’t kill the DM every time you crit fail on a saving throw!” _ and the disinterested look on Hunding’s face, that this is not the first time. 

Jason awkwardly looks away to stare at the nice,  _ normal-looking _ , reception desk.

Helgi looks away from the computer long enough to shout,  _ “This is a no impaling area, mind the signs or go somewhere else!” _ back at them before turning back to Jason. 

“Good news! You’ve been upgraded to a suite!”

Hunding mutters something from where he’s standing off to the side. “ _ All we have  _ are suites.”

Helgi frowns and opens his mouth to say something, but Jason cuts him off. “Could you please explain where exactly am I?”

“They  _ never _ teach anyone about the important things anymore.” The man sighs, before continuing, “Ah, well, some afterlives give you admittance for anything these days.” 

“In other words,” Helgi hits a button and a blue light comes streaming out of the computer, forming a small stone with a rune engraved. He tosses it to Hunding. 

“Welcome to Hotel Valhalla, home of the honored dead, half of them at least, the other half go to Folkvanger. If you’re here, you died doing something heroic that saved lives. You won’t age and you won’t permanently die until Ragnarok, unless you manage to get yourself killed on a quest out in the nine realms, after which you won’t resurrect unless you somehow manage to return to the hotel before dying. More will be explained at dinner.”

Jason is reeling but at least he now has an explanation of  _ some _ of the craziness of his current situation. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be here.”

“Oh, a believer in different gods are you? It's all been sorted out ages ago, Valhalla collects the honored dead to be Odin’s einherjar and to fight in Ragnarok when it comes, and we don’t mess with other pantheons.”

Jason just. Stares at Helgi. Because he’s pretty sure him even  _ standing  _ here counts as messing with other pantheons; he’s a Roman demigod, son of Jupiter, and is currently supposed to be down in the Underworld being judged. Maybe Valhalla only gets those who die in battle like he did? If that’s true, it doesn’t explain much about people believing in and expecting to go to other afterlifes ending up here instead.

(He would be freaking out about being dead more, but he’s known he’s a demigod for his entire life and in strange situations knows that he needs to adapt and adapt quickly or he could die. Again? It’s probably possible considering the dungeon master that got speared and nobody thought it was out of place. Helgi  _ had  _ said something about not permanently dying unless he left the hotel.)

Helgi waves a hand, a clear cue for dismissal, having taken his silence for understanding, and Hunding starts walking towards a pair of elevators, beckoning for Jason to follow him.

Jason hurriedly gets in the open elevator after him, and Hunding punches a button. The doors slide shut and Hunding hands him the small stone as they start moving. 

“That’d be your room key, don’t lose it, Helgi doesn’t like to give out replacements.” 

The stone is vaguely oblong in shape and the engraved rune is shaped a bit like a paper hat that’s been turned on its side, a vertical line with a triangle pointing off the middle on the right side. 

The elevator dings and Jason jolts, looking up at the floor number displayed next to the door:  _ 19. _ Hunding put a hand on the large axe at his side, and Jason looks at him quizzically.

“Never can be too careful with this floor,” is all Hunding gives in answer before exiting the elevator. “Good luck, you’ll need it.”

With that cryptic warning, Jason follows the man into the hall. 

* * *

For such a dire warning and Hunding resignedly hefting his axe up onto his shoulder, the hallway appears rather unassuming. Of course, Jason knows that appearances are not always as they seem, and granted, the walls of the hallway have decorative shields and spears hanging near the ceiling, but it all seems anti-climatic to him. Like something is going to come up that’s going to come back to bite him later. 

He forcibly pushes this aside as Hunding leads him to one of the doors. Unlike what Jason had expected from this magical hotel of a viking afterlife, the hallway does  _ not _ actually continue on forever, and including the door he and Hunding are standing in front of, he only counts six doors before the hall turns, leading off to what looks like it might be a lounge area.

Frowning slightly,  _ because nothing about this makes any sense _ , Jason turns towards the door only to almost fall over in shock. Really, his reflexes should be better, but he did literally  _ die _ , so any experience gained from being a demigod is a bit of a moot point. Even then, it’s understandable, because written on that door is  _ his name. _

“Go on,” Hunding huffs, “I realize this is a big shock, being dead and all, but really, it's not too bad. Just open the door.”

Hand shaking slightly, Jason lifts the stone to his name, the only logical place, as there’s no handle. The runes that cover the door glow a brilliant electric blue and with a nudge, it swings open. 

The room that Jason steps into is clearly much bigger than what should be possible, considering the spacing of the doors of the hallway outside. Directly inside, the entryway opens up into a small living area, with a tv and what looks like multiple gaming systems. The edge of the living room gives way to an area of grass with a large tree slightly off center. On the other side is a bed and what looks like a bathroom tucked into the walls. 

“This is—“ Jason has no idea what to say, falling speechless for one of the rare times in his life. “—just wow.”

“I’ll leave you be,” Hunding says quietly, “Your Valkyrie will arrive to take you to dinner.” 

He slips soundlessly out the door.

Jason barely notices, all his attention fixated on the shelves in the living area. There are photos, photos  _ he’s never seen _ of him and Thalia, probably taken when he was a baby, some he and the rest of his friends had taken in the rare moments on their quest when they weren’t being attacked by monsters. Annabeth and Percy, asleep in a pile of rope at the base of the main mast, Frank attempting to help Piper and Hazel plot their course while Leo gestured about something at the helm, Leo hanging off the side of the ship, suspended with rope and goggles on top of his head and soot all over face as he worked on Festus. All pictures of before their lives really went to hell.

He had just sank down onto the couch when a glint of metal catches his eye. There, on the lowest shelf, sits a familiar golden coin. 

Unconsciously, Jason reaches out. It looks exactly the same as it had before it broke at the Wolf House, same inscription, same image of a battle axe and some long dead guy’s face. On a whim, he flips it. A moment later the gladius Hera had given him,  _ the original one, _ appears in his hand. 

Not possible.  


* * *

After spending a good fifteen minutes determining that, yes, it is indeed his lost coin, Jason returns it to his pocket and starts to pace. None of the facts he has line up.

He’s dead.

That one certainly is true. Everything he has heard and seen since appearing here has confirmed it.

He’s in Valhalla.

This is where his facts start to not make sense, starting with how he arrived in the first place. Jason clearly remembers Hunding telling him that he had a Valkyrie, so maybe they brought him here? But that doesn’t make much sense, considering this isn’t even the right afterlife, and that Odin doesn’t mess with other pantheons.

Is he going to even  _ be able to go to _ the Underworld?

He’s dead, yes. It’s sad, sure. He won’t get to see his friends again, but until an hour ago, he’d known that once he died he would go to Elysium, the resting place of heroes. Then at least he would be reunited with everyone there. Especially considering his current situation, it would be nice to know if that was even possible anymore, if Odin or whoever even wanted to bother with sending him to the right place.

Jason has just realized that possibly being stuck here means there’s little chance of seeing Piper and his friends again, but if it comes to it he could escape somehow, and just, not die until they manage to sort it out, when there’s a loud knock on the door. 

He bolts up, and flings the door open, gladius in hand only to see a startled young woman in green. Absently he notes that she has short dark hair, a silver chest plate and a spear.

“I’m Margot, your Valkyrie. It’s a pleasure to officially meet you.“ The girl extends a hand for him to shake, smiling.

“Is there any way that I could possibly transfer afterlifes?” Jason blurts before shaking her hand. “Oh gods, I did not mean to say that. I am so sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Margot looks at him curiously, if a bit taken aback. “It  _ might _ be possible, but I don’t believe that anything like that has happened before. Why do you want to? Valhalla is home to those who died to save others, you are among people like you.”

“Well, you see...“ Jason rubs the back of his neck, not sure where to start. “So the thing is I’m actually—“

A bell loudly rings in the distance and Margot pales. “Quickly! We have to beat the dinner rush!”

She pulls him out into the hall, where his neighbors are just starting to emerge and into the elevator. As they run past, Jason catches a glimpse of two kids his age emerge from one of the rooms. The blond one is rubbing at grey paste of some sort that’s smeared all over his nose, while the shorter green haired kid has it all over their hair and face and is making no effort to remove it. The lattice spear doors slide shut, and Jason realizes that Margot must have done something to the elevator, because it is going twice the speed that it was before.

The doors slide open, revealing what looks like a large open amphitheater, with a gigantic tree on one side and a river flowing near its base. The grassy hill is terraced, with many tables ascending up the hill side.

Margot leads them to one near the front, perpendicular to a long table that’s sitting on the roots of the tree, the chairs growing out of the bark and looking for all the world like the people seated will preside over all the rest. 

Jason pulls out a chair from their table next to Margot. Across from them is another pair of people, a Valkyrie and a (what had Helgi called them? Einherjar?)  _ hero _ . The Valkyrie is talking, probably pointing out the table and the tree and the river and that weird elk he saw, and explaining what they mean. The hero nods along, looking pretty checked out, exactly as Jason feels.

Margot starts talking, most likely explaining everything as well, but Jason can’t bring himself to actually listen to what she’s saying. Everything that has happened in the last twelve hours has been a whirlwind, and instead of dwelling on the uncertainty and panic he feels, he watches the people coming into the hall in crowds.

What greets his eyes is the strangest mix of attire he’s seen since, well, ever. There are people wearing clothes he saw last week in California, stuff that went out of style thirty to forty years ago, even clothes that people probably last wore daily 100 years ago. He thinks he sees at least three people in full period attire, large skirts and all.

Eventually, Margot falls silent, and he tears his eyes away from all the people settling into their seats to see that people are sitting at what must be the head table in front of them. Jason recognizes Helgi, still in his bright green receptionist attire, just to the left of the middle seat, which remains empty, a single raven perched on the back of the chair. 

The loud chorus of the hall falls into a low rumble as Helgi stands up, the others seated with him drawing out of their individual conversations to watch the hall in silence.

“GREETINGS BRAVE HEROES!” Helgi booms, his voice ringing throughout the hall in a way that meant it had somehow been enhanced. “AND WELCOME NEWLY DEAD, TO THE FEAST HALL OF THE SLAIN!”

The hall erupts into cheering. Jason and the other new arrival, a Spanish girl with a long braid, exchange a panicked glance. 

Underneath the chaos, the girl leans on the table and extends a hand. “Emilia. I—You know what is going on?”

Jason shakes her hand. “Jason. Not at all.”

“Now!” Helgi’s voice has returned to a more normal volume, as the cheers die down. “Valkyrie! Introduce your charge!”

Margot and the other Valkyrie, a girl with short red hair floating around her shoulders, exchange a loaded glance and the redhead nods slightly before standing, Emilia hesitantly following her lead.

The redhead places a hand on Emilia’s shoulder, and with the touch, Jason can see Emilia square her shoulders and lift her head, her face a thin veneer of calm overlaying panic. 

“Thanes! I present Emilia Cavallero!” The redhead declares, as a hush falls over the hall. She gestures and large, glowing blue screens light up around the trunk of the gigantic tree.

Jason watches, slightly fascinated as a video starts to play. Emilia is also enthralled, with a sort of horrified interest as the video shows the events of her death; a frost giant that looks a lot like the ones Percy, Frank, and Hazel told him they encountered in Alaska, starts messing with the snowfall on the mountain, a small village visible in the distance, triggering the start of an avalanche. Emilia defeats the frost giant, getting severely injured in the process, and somehow manages to slow the avalanche with a burst of pale blue energy, which judging by her face, she didn’t realize it was something she could do, as the energy envelops the mountainside. She struggles to hold the avalanche back with tenuous control and eventually succeeds before she collapses to the ground, limp and still as her Valkyrie rides down from the clouds. The Valkyrie reaches out a hand and  _ pulls _ Emilia’s spirit out of her body and up onto her horse before the horse charges full speed into a tree and disappears in a swirling haze.

The hall erupts into cheers.

Emilia and her Valkyrie sit as the thanes table dissolves into arguing. Jason only catches a few snippets, but from what he can tell, they’re debating whether or not the blue magic Emilia used counts as a weapon, as she’d dropped the tree branch club she used to kill the frost giant, but had died shortly after. As he watches, Emilia gets paler and paler, as both the thanes and the rest of the hall grow louder and louder.

Jason tries to smile at her, and it feels fake, but Emilia weakly smiles back anyways.

A loud, clanging sound rings out, and Jason turns to see Helgi pounding the but of his axe on the floor. The hall falls into relative silence. 

“We have decided! Magic is a fickle thing, especially when used by the untrained,  _ but, _ ” Helgi declared, “It is in many cases not something one can physically hold, taking great talent to wield it at all. It is for this that we are proud to find Emilia Cavallero worthy of Valhalla!”

The hall erupts into cheering once more and Emilia slumps in relief. Jason has to wonder though, if this sort of thing happens nightly, wouldn’t the warriors—einherjar, Margot had said—be used to this, or would they just welcome everyone with the same enthusiasm?

Helgi gestures for the pair to stand again, and Emilia rises shakily. “Now tell me, what do you know of your parents, and we shall read your fate.”

This, Jason admits, is an interesting way of seeing if people were demigods. Interesting, but not foolproof. Demigods aren’t the only ones who can be heroes.

Emilia frowns at him, drawing her shoulders back and lifting her chin, as if she’s heard something along the lines of that before. “I was raised by my father,” she tells him curtly, “My mother died when I was young, she was search and rescue.”

Something on Helgi’s face shifts, like he knows that he’s pushing her buttons. “Brave heroes, the men and women of search and rescue are. If the  _ vala  _ would step forward?”

He declares this to the hall at large, and Emilia looks at him like she knows exactly what he’s doing.

A woman shrouded in wool robes the color of the tree emerges from her position near the roots. Jason jumps at her sudden appearance, and the completely unnatural way that she stares at Emilia. He’s ninety percent sure that there’s actually mist drifting off her clothes. She pulls out a small leather bag of what looks like runestones, and begins casting them at the ground, kneeling to make out what they say.

“The great spirits of the mountains, her ancestors are!” Even the vala’s voice doesn’t sound real, and Jason shivers, the sound a combination of rivers on stone, the roar of waterfalls and the rush of wind. “Destined for many great things; quests, feats of glory and skill, a seat at the thane’s table within 150 years.”

The hall cheers again, a celebratory and excited noise. From what he can see, the thanes aren’t unlike the judges in the Underworld, and becoming one would be a feat beyond what many could achieve. Jason, wouldn’t want that, for himself. Not if it meant seeing how the world went on without him. Maybe that’s why the time given to Emilia was so long, by then, everyone she knew would be dead.

“Does Odin wish to intervene?” Helgi asks, turning towards the empty throne in the middle of the thane’s table. Nothing happened. “Then welcome, Emilia Cavallero, to  _ Valhalla!” _

The crowd erupts into cheering for the nth time. Emilia’s Valkyrie, the redhead, smiles slightly and pats her on the shoulder while she flushes slightly.

Emilia looks a bit shell shocked, but gives  _ him _ a reassuring look as she sits. It's only when Margot nudges him that Jason realizes that it’s because he’s  _ next _ .

“It’s time.” Margot whispers.

“JASON GRACE!” Helgi bellows.

They stand.  


* * *

The thanes table looks no different now that he’s standing. Aside from slight apprehension and worry of what would happen if the thanes can’t send him to the Underworld, Jason just feels numb. He can’t do anything about that, not now, not knowing how this place works and if he could get back home.

So Jason stands, and prepares to see his fate.

Margot introduces him, and there’s more applause. He barely hears it, gaze fixed on the empty chair. A raven is perched on the back of it now, staring at him with a beady gaze. Cawing sounds, and Jason finds himself looking up with the rest of the hall as another raven, this one circling in the air, lands on the back of the chair. Both of them immediately turn and stare at Helgi.

“I—yes, well, let’s get to it then,” Helgi shifts on his feet, looking slightly nervous, before decidedly looking away from the chair. “And now we will watch your heroic exploits with Valkyrie Vision!”

The bluish screens appear on the tree again, but this time it’s a scene Jason recognizes.

_ He, Piper and Grover are in an underground maze. Grover thinks that it’s a remnant of the Labyrinth. Jason, personally, thinks that dealing with leftovers of the famous maze is getting a little old, especially considering they all almost died at the hands of a crazy witch last time. _

_ It’s looking the same this time around too. _

_ Medea stands in what appears to be an abandoned arena. She smirks down at them from an almost-throne, torches lit with the eerie green of greek fire flanking the sides. _

_ Jason would  _ really _ like their enemies to stay dead. Medea must have somehow crawled her way out of the Fields of Punishment while the Doors of Death were still open, because she definitely had died when he, Piper, and Leo had blown up her department store. _

_ She must take their shift into fighting stances as an excuse to do something, because she waves a hand and a grate lifts ominously. A few seconds later, a pair of metallic lions race out of the tunnel. _

_ Piper groans. “Seriously, I thought these had melted along with her?” _

_ “I’m pretty sure they did,” Jason nods, bracing himself to divert the lions’ attention to himself, as he is the only one with a sword. Piper has her dagger and Grover his panpipes, but close combat with lions will not end well. See the entertainment methods of the Ancient Romans. “She’s a witch, I’m sure she could remake them. I’ll draw them off; Grover, try to play something to distract them. Piper, see if you can get up there and charm her.” _

_ “It will be my pleasure,” she grumbles, “I am suddenly not over that stuff she pulled last time.” _

_ Jason isn’t either, with her attempting to get Leo and him to kill each other, and almost succeeding. _

_ Grover takes off in the opposite direction, calling out, “I’ve got an idea!” while Jason darts left. _

_ Snarling, the lions follow him, going after the easier prey, as Grover has somehow jumped up into the stands and is playing something vaguely familiar while Piper climbs the gate blocking the stairs up out of the arena floor.  _

_ One of them pounces, and he barely manages to block it from completely shredding his shoulder, catching it on his sword. As it is, there’s a huge gash down his arm, and his entire side goes numb. Of course. Of course Medea’s crazy lions would have poison claws, that’s pretty much her whole shtick. _

_ Having caught most of the lion’s claws on his blade, Jason shoves it away before it can cause any more damage. It falls to the ground, stumbling to get up before it collapses unconscious. _

_ That’s when he notices the other lion, on the ground looking dead to the world. _

_ “Ha!” Grover shouts, “It worked!” _

_ Jason has to laugh at the irony a little. “ _ The Lion Sleeps Tonight  _ is always a classic.” _

_ “What the hell _ ? _ ” Grover yells suddenly, “Jason! She’s gone! Piper’s down!” _

_ He turns to look where he’s pointing, and his stomach drops. The throne is empty, the greek fire having erupted along the top tier of the arena. She could be anywhere. Piper is sprawled at the base of the stairs, unconscious. _

_ Grover hops down from the stands and runs to Piper, playing something quick and fast. She slowly starts to stir.  _

_ And that’s when Jason knows it’s been too easy. _

_ Pain erupts in the middle of his chest. Dimly, he’s aware that someone is screaming. It takes a few seconds to realize that it’s him. _

_ He drops to his knees, fingers only loosely wrapped around the hilt of his sword, Medea cackling in his ear. _

_ A loud noise, a pure bolt of panic rings around the room. Blinking through a haze of pain, Jason notices that Piper is sprinting towards him, executing a spectacular flying tackle, pinning Medea to the ground. _

_ He touches the wound in his chest, the point of the dagger extruding slightly, and his fingers come away red. Somewhere in the background, Piper is screaming, in pain or in rage he doesn’t know. Then, he doesn’t have a chance to find out, because his vision darkens and the pain is gone. _

Jason shakes himself out of his memories as the screens fade and the hall erupts into cheers. Two of the thanes are pounding mugs of mead on the table, calling it “A job well done.” He’s just so tired now of all of it, and failing the opportunity of going to the Underworld, he just wants to sleep. Preferably forever.

He groans internally as the hall keeps cheering again. It had all gotten old rather fast.

Helgi stands, silencing the hall. “True sacrifice,” he says. At least one of the thanes looked moved to tears. “Death in defense of one’s allies. And what allies you have! A fellow hero, and a nature spirit!”

“I’m pretty sure Grover’s a god. He wasn’t originally. We don’t know how that happened.” Grover hadn’t told Jason anything, and beyond an inside joke Percy and Grover had shared, he doesn’t think they know how it happened either.

Helgi looks like he’s about to say something about that, but changes his mind. Jason is thankful. He has no desire to be here any longer and would like the vala to figure out who his parents are so the thanes actually figure out something is not normal. 

“Well, having seen your brave deeds, Jason,” the man proclaims, “It is time to read your fate. Unless Odin wishes to intervene?”

Jason is 99% sure that judging from last time, this is something that they just say as a precaution, without expecting anything to come of it. 

That is decidedly not the case.

Several things happen at once. Helgi calls to the vala his, three white-haired women appear instead, and the ravens caw in eerie unison.

“Odin wishes to intervene!” The god appears with a puff of smoke and the old Windows start-up sound.

It’s entirely possible that the ravens were a sign, because nothing could have prepared Jason for meeting the god.

Unlike all the movies with the Norse gods, where Odin looks like some Gandalf-y figure, he just looks like a normal, if eccentric, guy with an eyepatch.

“Well,” the god beams at everyone, and Jason genuinely cannot tell if the dead silence is from Odin’s or the three ladies’ appearance. He hopes it’s not the ladies, because the little knowledge that he has of this whole business lines them up way too closely with the Fates. “Let’s see what the Norns have to say.”

_ And _ with a name like that, they’re probably the Norse equivalent of the Fates. Which means the silence is probably for them. Great.

The three women link hands. They seem to be clothed entirely in mists and Jason can barely tell where their shapes begin and end.

“Son of Rome, heed our words;

_ Seven half-bloods shall answer the call _

_ To storm or fire the world must fall _

_ An oath to keep with the final breath _

_ And foes bear arms to the doors of death.” _

The Norns nod to Odin, which seems to be more of a cursory gesture since they just gave a literal prophecy and even gods are beholden to fate. A split second later, they vanish with a loud crack, fading mist the only evidence of their presence. 

The hall breaks into murmurs.

_ “ _ Rome?” Odin frowns. “That’s not any of our gods. A nature spirit perhaps? Unless they refer to...” he trailed off, looking intently at Jason.

Jason sighs, thankful that it is at least going somewhere. “That’s because it’s not a god. It’s an empire. And I am the son of Jupiter.”

The murmurs grow louder, someone going so far as to loudly yell “HOW THE —“ before they are forcibly cut off by someone near them.

“Jupiter?” Odin shakes his head slightly. “I’ve met Jupiter, my counterpart, only a few times. You don’t belong here.”

“I tried saying that.” By this point, Jason is attempting to bore holes in Helgi’s skull, an effort that is failing due to the man’s fixed attention on Odin.

“We'll get to that in a minute. It takes quite a bit of paperwork for realm transfer, so we try to avoid this sort of thing. A very complicated process on our part. Actually, I do believe that many of my staff have forgotten how, it’s much less common these days.” He looks inquiringly at Helgi, “I could get out my informational PowerPoint?”

Although Helgi’s expression only twitches minutely, Jason can tell that he does not want  _ anything _ to do with Odin’s PowerPoints. He thinks that it would be appropriate payback for getting him stuck in Valhalla. “Oh no my lord, I am sure that we could solve this in a much easier way.”

“Indeed,” Odin nods, “How we used to do it. Ah, those were always fun.”

“Exactly.”

“But!” Odin declares, “That is a problem for a bit later, as it looks like, son of Jupiter, that you’ll be heavily involved in this quest. And unfortunately, we cannot transfer you to your proper afterlife until the terms of the quest are fulfilled, seeing as you, the recipient of the prophecy, are to be a part of it.”

“Lord Odin,” one of the thanes says hesitantly, “We do need to consider traveling companions and the urgency of this quest as well, besides what allies could we even find in Helheim.”

Odin nodded gravely. “This is something I must think about. I do not know how the terms of the prophecy could be fulfilled unless they bear arms against each other.”

_ Oh thank the gods, this he could handle. _ The first part of Odin’s statement had him worried for a minute, but the rest wouldn’t be a problem. “Actually, uh…Lord Odin, but the prophecy already happened. It was fulfilled about a year ago, eight months to be exact.” 

Eight months, wow. This was not how he had planned to spend his first week out of school.

“Really!” Almost simultaneously the thanes relax, but Odin just looks more interested now. “So they went to your Underworld, is that right?”

Jason shrugs. No, not at all. “Yeah, kinda. Okay, recap time. Like you said, I’m one of the seven mentioned, the earth  _ goddess, _ who’s actually evil, fell to my friend Leo, who I assume made a promise and then died trying to keep it. Must have been important, since we had been trying to avoid that. My other friends, Annabeth and Percy were the ones who closed the Doors of Death.”

Odin leans forward slightly and Jason is amazed to note that the hall is somewhat quiet for once. “Interesting! Were they the foes mentioned? Deadly enemies?”

“No, they’re dating.” The same person from earlier yelled something unintelligible, the neighbor presumably taking preventive action. “The foes were a giant and a titan. I think one of them’s at Camp now.”

“How wonderful to have that problem solved. Then again,” Odin gestured and one of the ravens hopped over to join the other out of swatting distance, “There is the issue of your presence. I will make a deal with you, since it can be particularly troublesome to deal with Hades. You have a choice; stay here forever, and reap the benefits for joining the ranks of the einherjar.”

Jason blinked. “I feel like there’s supposed to be more than one option.”

“Of course! Your second choice is to duel one of the einherji to the death. If you win, I will let you return to your life in the mortal world. Lose, and well, I’ll break out my PowerPoint on realm transference and we’ll send you to Hades the paperwork way. Might not even have to, if you die here, you might revert to your proper afterlife.”

“Wait seriously?” This seemed to be too good to be true. A chance to go back to his life? Who wouldn’t choose that in his situation?

“I am very serious. Believe me, if you knew how much of a hassle Hades is to deal with, you’d do the same. Unless you have an easier way to contact him than inter dimensional communications.”

“Uh,” Jason very deliberately did not think about how he’s very good friends with both children of the god. “We… don’t get along, to say the least. Seeing as I’m the son of Jupiter, and they have their whole rivalry thing. It’s probably best not to bother him with my death.”

“Just as I thought. Which option shall you choose then? To fight for a new chance at life, or join the ranks of the einherjar?” A hush fell over the hall, all the murmurs having abruptly died once Odin had made his offer.

“I—“ Stay here as an eternal warrior, or fight for the chance to live and die again? It wasn’t a question at all. “I think I’d be very foolish if I didn’t take you up on your offer. I’ll fight.”

“Very well!” Odin’s beaming, and though the entirety of the thanes table looks shell shocked, the majority of the warriors are cheering enthusiastically. Jason’s pretty sure most of it’s from the prospect of dinner-side gladiator fighting. 

“We shall proceed in ten minutes hence. The thanes and I will devise a method to choose a champion, and give our brave hero a chance to rest.” He winks at Jason, before going over to the thanes and starting what looks like an intense discussion. His voice must have been magically amplified before, because Jason can’t hear a word. For that matter, he can’t hear a word the thanes are saying, barely able to make out their mouths moving. It’s probably a magic thing.

He sits down heavily in his chair, to suddenly find the eyes of Margot, Emilia, and the other Valkyrie on him.

“What. The. Hell.” Emilia, if anything, looks twice as confused as before, just less angry. “There’s more like this out there?”

“Yeah,” Jason shrugs, “Sorry for making this a mess for you all.”

The other Valkyrie, and he really needs to learn her name, snorts. “Are you kidding? It’s free entertainment, with the prospect of blood being spilled.”

He stares blankly at her. “So you’re really just fine once you’re killed here?”

“You should see Tuesdays.” She smirks, “Free-for-all combat.  _ Everyone _ has died on Tuesdays. There’s been multiple times where there’s been no one left alive. I think the record number of people to have actually survived was 4 and a half.”

“And a  _ half _ ?” Emilia looks pale, like she’s worrying about when the next Tuesday is.

“He died later.”

“Huh,” Jason tells her, “Sounds like war games, but with more death.”

“Oh, we do that too. But no, the einherjar resurrect once they’re killed, us Valkyries, don’t. We’re mortal. For the most part. Some of us are demigods.” She extends her hand, “Jacqueline. Call me Jackie. You seem pretty cool Jason, shame you won’t be sticking around. I’d have liked to get to know you.”

“Likewise, but I’ve got the chance to go back. I’m not just going to let that go.”

Previously quiet for that whole exchange, Margot bursts out an apology. “ _ I’m so sorry!  _ It’s all my fault that you’ve ended up here.”

Jason blinks, taken aback. “It’s fine? I’m sure it was an honest mistake? Besides if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten this chance.”

“Margot, look, you’re new so you probably don’t know this,” Jackie reaches a hand across the table. “We’re not supposed to see their sort of stuff. Because you did, that means something was seriously wrong. It’s not your fault. Got it.”

Margot nods, not looking like she believes it.

“It was probably Medea.” Jason elaborates at the three of them’s confused looks. “That witch in the video? She messed with a lot of weird magic, and some of it’s definitely rubbed off on her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a nullifying effect on the sort of stuff that keeps our worlds separate.”

Jackie nods, looking thoughtful. “That checks out. I don’t think we’ll know for sure, let’s just hope it won’t happen again.”

She looks like she’s about to say more, but Odin stands and the hazy bubble around the thanes table that Jason can barely make out disappears with a pop. 

“We have deduced the source of the anomaly,” he declares grandly, “It was the witch, and I have seen that she won’t cause such things again, as she has been slain.”

“And  _ there _ it is,” Jackie stage whispers, but Jason ignores her. He wonders if Piper’s okay, because she had been  _ right there _ , and probably the one to kill Medea. She might have been an evil sorceress witch hell-bent on subjugation of the human race, but still, that would have been difficult.

Odin continues on, oblivious to Jason’s minor inner turmoil. “We have also determined a champion to represent Valhalla. Both warriors will use non-magical weapons, or will at least not use the magical aspect of their weapons on pain of forfeit. Which is frowned heavily upon.”

He is so grateful that he has the coin from Juno once more, that he doesn’t even care about not being able to switch its form mid-battle. He’ll be able to do that once he gets out of here, where strict rules of combat don’t necessarily apply to fighting monsters.

“The champion has been randomly selected from this hall, as you are all a similar age to our challenger.” That’s a sobering thought. Jason had previously believed that this was all of Valhalla, but if this hall is only those who’ve died  _ and _ are close to his age? How many more people are here?

“Helgi,” Odin finishes, “Shall announce our champion.”

He sits down to thunderous applause, while the other man stands, frowning slightly at the slip in his hand. 

“Drawn randomly out of all room numbers here,” Helgi sighs as if it pains him greatly, the entire hall listening intently. “Our champion is of room 76195. MAGNUS CHASE. IF BOTH CHAMPIONS WOULD PROCEED TO THE DUELING STAGE.”

His voice had been magically amplified during the last bit so that everyone would be able to actually hear what he was saying over the low din, that Jason had failed to notice that there was another platform now in front of the thanes table, having risen out of the ground.

He stands, and waves goodbye to the three still sitting at the table. Margot, who looks like she doesn’t know what to think. Emilia, who’s enthusiastic but still slightly confused. And Jackie, who flashes a thumbs up.

Standing on the hard packed dirt of the raised dueling stage, he can see a figure making their way down the hill side. He doesn’t want to kill this Magnus dude, and is severely hoping that they’ll just let him disarm and pin the guy, and get away with it, even if he’ll supposedly be fine.

Jason pulls out the coin, and flips it, the hilt of the sword landing in his hand seconds before his opponent climbs up onto the platform.

“I really want to know,” the guy says conversationally, and Jason can't tell if he’s addressing him or Helgi. “Why is it always me? Seriously, it’s like every time now. I should just enter the lotto at this rate.”

Helgi looks two seconds away from screaming, but Odin just looks on, amused. “Magnus Chase,” the man bites out, “You are forbidden from using the ah -  _ individual _ powers of Sumarbrander during this battle.”

“Sure,” Magnus replies agreeably, “We all know I’m getting my ass kicked anyways. Can we just cut the ‘killing’ part, I’m not a fan of dying.”

This throws Helgi off guard, and he looks to Odin, who shrugs. “Fight valiantly and make it a true fight and I do not see that it will be a problem.”

Jason nods. That works, better honestly, than anything he had thought would happen.

“Great,” Magnus says, “I’m gonna just guess we start then?”

“I’m ready when you are.”

Odin pounds a mug onto the table. “BEGIN!”

Jason does nothing other than go and stand a few feet farther away from Magnus, who just pulls a necklace out of his shirt and yanks on the chain.

It promptly turns into a sword.

“Ooh, a duel! I love duels!” The sword says, because  _ of course  _ it can talk.

Magnus rolls his eyes. “Jack, you’re not even fighting this one.”

“Exactly!” The-sword-who’s-name-is-Jack says, “That makes it so much better!”

“As you can see,” Magnus says dryly, “He’s going to provide unhelpful commentary.”

“HEY! I take offense to that! I am very helpful.”

Magnus gives his sword—Jack—a look.  _ Sure buddy, we’ll see about that _ . 

The absurdity of the situation grows too much and it shakes Jason out of just staring. “Your necklace. Is a sword. That can talk.”

“Yep.” Behind Magnus, Helgi covers his face with his hands. “ _ I _ wanted him to turn into something useful and innocuous, like a pen.  _ He  _ on the other hand, thought a pen sword was stupid.”

Jason readies his sword, and Magnus rolls his wrists before bringing Jack up in a somewhat passable guard. “I have a very good friend, excellent swordsman, whose sword is a pen most of the time.”

“Percy right?” At his shocked stare, Magnus elaborates. “Annabeth’s my cousin. I’ve heard a bit about you guys.”

Now that he’s mentioned it, the family resemblance is obvious, and Jason would be kicking himself if this wasn’t 0.2 seconds from an all out battle. As it is, he just says “Huh,” and lunges.

Magnus brings Jack up even more, barely managing to deflect Jason’s sword. The crowd cheers, excited at the prospect of action.

He attacks again, Magnus deflecting again before dashing a few feet to the side.

“Go after him, you numbskull!” Jason is so not used to thinking of a sword that can actually speak, especially in the midst of battle. 

Their blades clash again, and this time there’s a sizable amount of pressure holding him back.

“Thanks for that earlier,” Jason tells Magnus, as he forces him back a few steps, “you seem a decent fellow, I’d hate to kill you.”

Magnus snorts, and it takes him a second to catch his unintentional reference.

He shoves Jason back, attempting a feint at his side, which is easily blocked. “You know, this is some irony. I was the last guy Odin offered to revive. Obviously, I turned him down.”

Even as they continue to fight, some part of Jason’s brain demands he figure it out and he frowns. “Why’d he offer that?”

Magnus shrugs, ducking under his blade. “Oh, I fulfilled the last prophecy that the Norns gave, and because they didn’t believe in it and wanted to do nothing, I ended up saving their sorry asses.”

Behind them, Helgi looks scandalized. Jason figures that it must be a normal look for him.

“Cool,” another feint, “It’s not often that there are multiple demigod children in the same family, let alone cousins.”

“Nope,” Magnus agrees, hesitating and getting a minor slash on his upper arm, “For some reason, the gods like our family. As if Annabeth and I isn’t rare enough, apparently her brothers are Egyptian magicians.”

“What.” This is the first he’s heard of Egyptian magicians or gods, but he does vaguely remember Annabeth saying that they should meet up with someone friends of hers that were like them. He had assumed that she’d meant she’d met a demigod in the mortal world, but these Egyptian magicians seem more likely.

“Those magicians are too stuffy for my taste.” Jack interrupts the fight momentarily, and Jason uses it as an opportunity to step the slightest bit out of range.

“Why am I not surprised you have opinions on this,” Magnus murmurs, looking down at his sword, “You have opinions on everything.”

He looks up at Jason. “I should probably mention that I’m absolutely terrible at this normally and this might be a record of lasting in a fight.”

“Don’t worry,” Jason replies, “I was going easy on you.”

Borrowing a move from Percy, he twists Jack out of Magnus’s hands and the sword clatters to the floor. He brings the tip of his gladius up to Magnus’s chest, who freezes, hands now in the air.

“Yup, I’m out, I am a healer, not a fighter. See these arms?” Magnus tilts his head back, calling out to Helgi. “Limp noodles!”

Odin stands and Jason lowers his sword. Magnus leans down and affixes Jack back to his necklace, who becomes a pendant.

“Congratulations Jason Grace. You have fought honorably, and with ease, though you do not control the strengths of your opponent. Well done.”

Jason and Magnus exchange a glance, and Jason is now 90% sure that it was rigged. Even if it was done just to get him out of Odin’s hair, he doesn’t want to jeopardize his chances by mentioning it.

It suddenly sinks in that he’s going to go back to life in the mortal world, and that? That is the most relieving thing he’s heard in ages. Aside from finals being over.

The fallout is going to be a mess, he knows this. From Grover and Piper being there, Reyna and the rest of their friends freaking out, to Nico and Hazel probably realizing it the moment it happened. 

But it’s all good now, because he’ll be able to deal with that in person. Alive.

He must have the stupidest grin on his face, because Odin nods.

“You shall return to the mortal world momentarily.”

The last thing he sees before it all goes black is Magnus flashing him a peace sign.  


* * *

Jason comes to lying on the floor of the backseat of a moving car. His head is pounding. He feels like he’s just been sick. Shakily, he pushes himself up onto his knees, sitting back on his heels.

The driver of the car must have seen something in the rear view mirror, because the car swerves violently and a second later  _ slams _ to a stop. A terrible squealing is heard, and Jason winces, falling into an awkward position against the seats.

A dagger appears under his chin, and he hesitantly turns his head to look to the front.

Reyna and Piper stare back at him, both as pale as ghosts. A moment later, Reyna’s pulled her own dagger from the driver’s side door and is pointing it at him too. The 80s classics station playing on the radio in the background is severely at odds with the current scene.

“Hi?” He offers weakly.

Piper glares. She looks absolutely wrecked. “Jason’s  _ dead. _ Take off his face before I make you.”

Next to her, Reyna’s face is that mask of cold fury that promises the closest thing a demigod can get to divine retribution. He’s never seen that look directed at him.

“No, really, it’s—“ Something, or someone, pounds on the side of the car. Jason has never been so glad to have been interrupted in his life, because it means that Piper’s dagger is now slightly farther from his face.

She’s visibly confused now, on top of the hurt and anger. “Nico?”

Jason can’t twist to see him, but judging from their swerve to the side of the road, Nico is standing in a ditch, looking into the car. He must motion for someone to roll the window down, because Reyna pushes a button and Piper’s window comes down, having never once broken eye contact with Jason.

“Can we  _ please _ get out of the car and have this discussion like sane people?” Nico sounds absolutely exhausted. 

Piper tilts her head towards the door, and Jason awkwardly gets into a position where he can actually open the door, before slowly backing out of the car. He doesn’t want to get stabbed while the situation is still unexplained. 

At this point, he’s half expecting Reyna to punch him for dying on her like that.

Surprisingly, he does not get punched. 

When Jason stands up and turns to look at Nico, he’s the slightest bit shocked to see him visibly relieved. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

“You got real lucky there,” Nico murmurs to him while Reyna and Piper get out of the car, “We don’t know how this happened, but Dad’s letting it go, just because the headache is too much to go and deal with the Norse, along with the fact that Medea should have been dead. He’s looking into  _ that  _ part.”

“Hey,” Nico looks up at him and smiles slightly, “Thank you. Really.”

“Of course.” He bumps Jason with his shoulder, which as far as Jason’s concerned, is right up there next to a hug. He grins as Nico raises his voice, “Good news everyone, Jason was dead, now he’s not, due to mutual not wanting to deal with each other on the part of my father and the Norse gods, but we’re not going to mention that.”

Piper stares at him, dagger slowly returning to its sheath. “You’re telling me this,” she waves a hand, “This is actually Jason?”

Nico nods. “Real as you can be. There’s not even a body in the trunk anymore.”

Jason pales as Reyna huffs, voice sounding strained. He doesn’t even want to think about that. “I suppose you can tell us how you know that.”

“Eh,” he makes a seesaw motion with his hand, “call it a distinct lack of the feeling of death where it should be. That’s how I found you, and shadow traveled to the nearest shadow to the sensation, which in a stroke of actually decent luck, was your car.”

Reyna looks at Piper, who nods decisively and launches herself at Jason, who catches her in a hug. Reyna wraps her arms around both of them as she tears up and buries her face in his shoulder. He slips an arm out from where it’s being crushed to around her.

They’re all crying by now.

Reyna pulls away a minute later, and he can see Nico pretending that he can’t see her. He makes a valiant effort but Reyna beams at him anyway. 

Jason currently feels like he’s going to be squeezed to death (again) by Piper, and that could be a problem for, you know, his breathing, if he wasn’t hugging her back just as hard.

She pulls away slightly, only enough to wrap an arm around his waist without moving too much, and looks at Nico. “What’s the plan now? Because I think we’re all experiencing too many emotions right now to drive.”

He shrugs. “That’s probably a good idea. I’m heading back to camp, Camp Half-Blood first and then Camp Jupiter, mostly because Hazel passed out when Jason died and that’s where she is now, so I’m going to do damage control. I don’t know if news has spread to Camp Jupiter yet, but I’ll handle that too. I’ll call Grover from Camp Half-Blood, someone needs to tell him.”

Jason examines him. Aside from looking slightly relieved, Nico looks perfectly normal. “Why are you calm about this?”

“Oh I’m not,” Nico says with fake cheer, “I’m absolutely pissed but that’s not helpful because you’re alive again, and the person who killed you is not. On the other hand, I knew something was up, because it felt  _ off _ when you died and I want to figure out more on why exactly, and unlike some people I could mention, you didn’t have a backup plan.”

He looked up at the sky, where a steadily growing dark shape was growing. “Alright, have fun, I’m out.”

The shape got low enough that it gained a solid shadow, which he disappears into, rusting among the tall grass.

A car zoomed by. 

Piper gasps. “Festus!”

Jason smiles so hard, it feels like his face is about to split in two.

The dragon lands a few moments later, landing in the field and looking all for the world like a cool roadside sculpture. A figure on his back, because he now realizes that there’s two of them, jumps off and sprints over to them. 

For the second time that day, Jason is tackled by someone, but this time Piper falls with him. He’s sandwiched between the ground, Piper, and Leo, and feels somewhere halfway between laughing and crying, but he can’t because there’s literally no tears left in him. 

They lay on the ground for a minute, until Leo gets up and drags them both into an actual hug.

He’s pretty sure Reyna’s wandered over to introduce herself to the other person, but doesn’t particularly care at the moment. Leo’s on his left, and Piper’s on his right, and now they’re all a mix of laughing and crying, but it’s okay because they’re all here now.

Leo pulls away and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Jason,” he says seriously, “Let’s just agree, here on out, to not die, because between the two of us, I think we’ve got it already covered enough for everyone.”

“I agree completely.” He laughs. “It is _so_ _great_ to see you again.”

“Exactly! And—“ Piper says cheerfully and beaming, “If you ever do that again, not even death can save you from my wrath!”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Beauty Queen. Now,” Leo gestures and pitches his voice louder, as Reyna and the other person walk towards them. Jason can see now that whoever it is has light brown hair, a deep tan, and is definitely taller than Leo, judging by their height in relation to Reyna. 

“This is Calypso! She’s awesome,” Calypso waves, and then Reyna must have said something that makes her laugh, because it’s clearly audible from where the three of them are standing. “And it looks like she’s already friends with Reyna. Great. DON’T BE TELLING TERRIBLE LIES ABOUT ME, REYNA. I CAN’T TAKE THIS BETRAYAL.”

This makes Calypso laugh even more, and Piper can’t keep a laugh out of her voice when she yells, “WHATEVER SHE’S SAYING IS ALL TRUE, I SWEAR.”

“Ah, well,” Leo leans in to whisper to Jason, “Let’s run and hide, maybe we can get out before they all team up with Annabeth and Hazel.”

“Too late for that,” Jason says, thinking of the last time they had a camp wide hide-and-seek and Annabeth found Percy in less than five minutes, “They’ll find us in a week. There’s no escape.”

“I can hear you both,” Piper tells them, but it’s in good humor, and they all know it.

As they walk down the hill to catch up with Reyna and to meet Calypso, all Jason can think is that their new beginning is off to a great start.  


* * *

Annabeth calls Carter two days later.

“Hey, would it be fine if we add a few more people to the meet up?”

“I don’t see how it could get—“ The phone is bumped around a bit before Sadie evidently steals it. “Yes! Bring everyone you want! It’ll be great!”

Carter’s response is dimly heard in the background. “Full of chaos, maybe.”

Annabeth laughs. “We’ll see about that. I don’t doubt it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’m still in shock. I wrote the last 6,000 words in two days. This is the longest thing I’ve ever completed, and the second longest thing I’ve written EVER, falling about 1000 words short. Wow.
> 
> (The part three I promised is gonna look a lot different, BUT something is still happening. It’s gonna be a chat fic type thing I update when I feel like it, because I don’t do deadlines well. This thing has hung over my head since October and it’s such a relief to be done.) 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Please tell me what you thought, I love to hear it! :)


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